Dried-Out Dead Desert
Dried-Out Dead Desert is stage eleven from Super Mario 74 Extreme Edition. The entrance to this level is within a pipe in the third overworld, on a wooden boardwalk. This stage is a harder remake of Swampy Spring from Super Mario 74. The shallow waters and assorted greenery of the swamp have been removed, replaced with sand, stone, and fire. Other than Mario and Koopa the Quick, there are no living creatures in this dead desert. Since there are so few coins in this stage and no water source or spinning heart, Mario will have to watch how much damage he takes, or he may find himself with no way to regain his lost health. Just like in Swampy Spring, this level is focused around tall wooden towers and the boardwalk between them, though in this stage Mario will frequently have to jump off of the high wooden paths to grab coins high above the ground below. According to a sign at the start of the level, people would throw dead bodies into the waters back when this stage was a swamp, but eventually the swamp dried up and the ground beneath it hardened. As the area turned into this dead desert, people started to move some bodies into the tall wooden towers, but one of the towers is not fully closed... Stars 'Star 1: Burning Feet' Koopa the Quick (actually, his identical brother, since the Koopa the Quick from Swampy Spring is said to have died between that game and this one) waits at the start of the wooden boardwalk, just in front of Mario's starting position. The race is straightforward for Mario: He will have to travel along the wooden path to reach the flag on the opposite side of the level, while Koopa the Quick will run across the sand and then climb the vertical wall to reach the flag. Mario's path is lined with Kuromame, and a bunch of flamethrowers will shoot out from the central tower as he approaches it, but other than that, this is identical to the race from the original Swampy Spring. After Mario wins the race, Koopa the Quick will give him this star and say he's going to keep looking for his brother's tomb. 'Star 2: Airy Stored Coins' In constrast to the "Grounded Red Coins" in the original stage, the red coins in this stage are all high in the air. The majority of them require Mario to jump off of the heights of the wooden boardwalk to reach them, necessitating him climbing the wooden paths again and again and again. The coins are located as follows: #Just below the roof of the east tower #From the previous coin, turn right and jump to the next platform. This coin is in the air before a turn in the wooden path #In the air behind the highest path leading to the top of the central tower, only reachable by long jumping from this high path #In the air between the central and east towers, only reachable by long jumping from the top of the central tower #From the east tower, turn left and jump to the next path. This coin is just below the edge of the end of this path #Behind the tall wooden wall on the north side of the boardwalk (This is the wall Mario must side flip wall kick off of to reach the highest level of the boardwalk) #Between the two high platforms on the boardwalk, just before reaching the tallest tower #In the air off the edge of the tallest tower, at the very end of the boardwalk After collecting all eight of these red coins, the star will spawn at the top of the east tower. '100 Coins' Due to the scarce amount of coins in this stage, it is highly recommended to collect the 100 coin star and the red coin star at the same time. Though these coins are listed in the order Mario will come across them, it is recommended to collect the coins on higher ledges before getting those at ground level, since Mario will have to frequently jump off of the high ledges to collect many coins, and since coins are his only source of healing in this stage. *(3) A cork box in the air on Mario's starting platform *(6) A cork box beneath the start of the wooden boardwalk *(9) A cork box is a sand pit on the right side of the stage *(29) Four lines of coins on the left side of the stage. To reach them, Mario needs to triple jump wall kick off of the end of the stone path to reach a ledge with a Purple Switch on it. This switch spawns some timed boxes leading around the wall from the ledge, with the coin lines in the gaps between these boxes *(32) A cork box hidden in the base of the tower on the opposite side of the stage from Mario's starting platform *(57) Five blue coins along the path to star 3, from the blue coin switch on the very top of the central tower *(60) A cork box in the air at the end of the path to star 3 *(70) Ten coins in a ! Box high in the air, off the edge of one of the farthest towers from Mario's starting platform *(90) Four lines of coins on top of the sloped roof of the east tower, only reachable by long jumping from the high ledge that star 5 is on *(106) Eight red coins listed above 'Star 3: The Old Hideout' This star's title is a nod towards the hidden location of star 6 from the original game, and that's where we have to go for this one. Mario should climb up to the top of the central tower, and hit the blue coin switch here. This will spawn a row of blue coins along some hidden ledges in the south wall, revealing the path he needs to take. Crossing these ledges will take him to a high ledge on the other side of the wall, with the star visible even higher up across a wide open gap. There is a tiny ledge on the rock wall to his right, so Mario will have to angle a long jump to get him onto this ledge. He has just enough room to maneuver on this tiny ledge to double jump wall kick to a longer ledge above him, and this one is high enough that he can long jump from it to the platform the star is on. 'Star 4: Grave Digger' The sign at the start of the level warned Mario that not all of the tower-tombs were fully sealed, and this is his chance to find the one he can desecrate. Mario's goal here is to travel up towards the tallest tower, the one at the very end of the boardwalk's highest paths. From the big circular platform just before this tower, Mario will be able to see some tiny alcoves carved into the wall, just below the top platform of that tower. He can long jump from here to reach the first alcove, and then has to carefully work his away along the tower with precise jump kicks from alcove to alcove. As expected, the last alcove has a star hidden in it. 'Star 5: Cemetary Artistics' To get this star, Mario once again as to climb to the tallest tower at the end of the boardwalk. From this point, he can jump to the high platform on the previous tower, and follow the path leading to another high platform. Some thin tall pillars are visible past this platform, but Mario will have to have excellent speed and timing with his long jumps to travel from his current platform to the top of the second pillar. A tall, thin wooden arch rests in front of this second pillar, and Mario has to long jump off the limited space he has on this tiny pillar to reach the far leg of the arch. After wall kicking back and forth between the arch's legs, Mario will eventually rise to the top, where he has to curve around to climb on top of the wooden arch and find a star. 'Star 6: The Sand Plateau's Torture' The final star in this stage is located over the only patch of instant-death quicksand in the desert. Mario just has to climb up to the top of the central tower and turn to his left, where a four-legged wooden arch waits over a platform of quicksand. The top of this arch is slanted (other than the top of the far end, where the star is), so Mario cannot stand on it. Instead, he has to wall kick back and forth between the closest two legs, then perfectly curve around the second leg to wall kick off of the third. If he does this right, he'll now be able to wall kick back and forth between these two legs, gaining height while reserving his speed. Repeat the process once again to swing between the third and fourth leg, and then just get Mario on top of the end of the arch where the star waits. Enemies *Kuromame Trivia *This is course 11 in Super Mario 74: Extreme Edition, but Swampy Spring was course 10 in the original Super Mario 74. Category:Super Mario 74 Extreme Edition Category:Level Category:Extreme level Category:Desert Category:Location